News
SA’s matrics up to mark
12 August 2010
South Africa’s matrics are on par with their counterparts in the US, Europe and Asia, according to a report released yesterday by the education monitoring body Umalusi and by Higher Education SA, in terms of curriculum and examinations.
Umalusi’s senior manager for qualifications, curriculum and certification, Liz Burroughs, said the study on which yesterday’s report was based compared qualifications, not pupil performance.
“[It indicates] that our exams are sufficiently demanding and their level of difficulty is sufficient when compared to others,” she said.
Department of Education spokesman Granville Whittle said the report confirmed the department’s assertion that “the National Senior Certificate is a high-skills, high-knowledge curriculum that compares well to the best in the world”.
Read the full article on Times Live.
Comment posted by Claire
Matric is a similar standard to the Scottish Highers, which they do at 17. In England they equate to AS levels, which they also sit at 17. In both countries the learners can stay on until 18 to do A levels, which are equivalent to first year Varsity here. I don’t know about the rest of Europe but I think the French Baccalaureate is similar to A levels.